With the experience of his first success, Mu Bai followed the same method and refined Blood-Bearing Pills, Poison-Avoidance Pills, Illusion-Breaking Pills, and other medicines commonly used by the tribespeople. After several attempts, he even combined and refined star-soul grass with Phoenix Python blood and Fire-Armored Crocodile blood to produce a pill that helped cultivators increase their soul power.
After expending the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, five fiery-red Nascent Pills appeared before Mu Bai, faintly emitting fluctuations of soul power. Once the pills were complete, Mu Bai swallowed one. A tongue of flame immediately shot into his dantian, then rampaged like molten lava through his limbs and bones. Wisps of white smoke escaped from his mouth and nostrils.
"Hahaha! You're killing me! Who told you to use so much fire-aspected beast blood? Now you know what comes of fooling around..."
The Artifact Spirit Ancestor mocked him without the slightest restraint. Mu Bai's throat burned like fire, leaving him unable to speak.
There was some pain, but Mu Bai could truly feel that taking one pill had quietly increased his soul power by a thread. Though it was only a thread, its effect was dozens of times more pronounced than the Phoenix Python soup and meat Ling’er often brought him.
This was the first cultivator's pill Mu Bai had produced on his path as an alchemist. Its effects were worlds apart from those of a Soul-Returning Pill, but its advantage was that he had already mastered the refining method. The ingredients were not exceptionally difficult to find, either. All that remained was to produce them in large batches, and the tribe could nurture a number of powerful cultivators.
He hoped to contribute to the tribe. If he could not become powerful himself, he would nurture more powerful cultivators for the tribe.
"Then I'll call it the Soul-Gathering Pill!"
Mu Bai did not dare widely publicize his successful pill refinement. Instead, he chose a suitable moment to visit Ling’er’s home and seek out Chief of Fangs Hai Ang.
"Mu Bai, I've seen you spending all your time in the hills behind the village lately, so I haven't disturbed you. Have you brewed another new medicine?"
Hai Ang had never imagined that while he and the Clan Patriarch were struggling to find information on pill formulas, Mu Bai had already successfully refined Soul-Gathering Pills.
"Uncle Ang, I have a few pills here that help condense soul power!"
When Mu Bai took several fiery-red pills from inside his robe, Hai Ang's eyes instantly widened.
"Th-these were refined by you?"
Hai Ang found it hard to believe that Mu Bai had personally refined the pills before him. After all, he had neither a teacher nor a pill formula. Yet where else could the boy have obtained pills?
"It was just luck." Mu Bai smiled bashfully. "I tried one. It works!"
Hai Ang solemnly accepted the four Soul-Gathering Pills from Mu Bai. "I believe you."
Taking Mu Bai into a secret chamber, Hai Ang swallowed one himself. His cultivation was already at the peak of a second-level Soul Adept, so the burning pain was nothing to him. Only moments after taking it, however, a trace of warmth stirred in the soul power that had shown no growth for years.
"It really works! What a blessing for our tribe!"
"I'll do my best to refine more pills from now on, and you can distribute them to the tribespeople, Uncle Ang. If I weaken their potency a little, I think even children who haven't undergone soul awakening could take them, increasing their chances of forming a soul mark."
"Good. I'll lead the tribespeople to bring back the herbs you need for refining!"
Hai Ang could imagine how, with these pills to help them, the tribe could nurture a group of cultivators in just ten short years. When that time came, they would no longer have to live beneath another's roof, confined to a remote corner.
"The Clan Patriarch has already ordered that your pill refining must never be leaked. You must remember to be cautious, too!"
"I understand, Uncle Ang!"
Watching Mu Bai leave, Hai Ang felt truly gratified. He had known that Mu Bai would be extraordinary. Although the boy had failed to inscribe the Divine Crow Soul Mark, he held the tribe in his heart and possessed a tenacity that refused to admit defeat or submit to fate.
Meanwhile, to find pill formulas, Clan Patriarch Hai Ya deliberately bypassed the White Wolf Tribe, within whose territory his tribe lay, and headed to the tribal market of the Eastern Nether Great Tribe.
A tribal market was a trading place for cultivators that only the great tribe of a region could support. Hai Ya spent nearly half a month taking a roundabout route to Eastern Nether Fort.
A great tribe was certain to have a Xiu Zun presiding over it. Both the Clan Patriarch and the Chief of Fangs of the Eastern Nether Great Tribe were mid-stage Xiu Zun. Such a tribe was already a hegemon in its region.
Fourth-level cultivators were called Xiu Zun, signifying that they had reached the pinnacle of human strength. The next step was to build an inner world within the body, with the emphasis shifting to cultivating the Dao, hence the name Dao Zun. Beyond that lay the three great realms of Yuan Zun, Dao Ling, and Perfection. As for the realm of Great Perfection, just as the rumors said, none had been heard of for tens of thousands of years.
The tribal market bustled with people. Most cultivators walking about were at the first or second level, though third-level experts were not uncommon. Mighty Xiu Zun, however, would not patronize a market of this scale. After all, it was unlikely to offer anything that stirred their interest.
Hai Ya concealed the fluctuations of his cultivation and transformed into an ordinary old man. Dressed in coarse hemp clothing and leaning on a black cane, he walked down the street without attracting attention.
He wanted to buy a pill formula compendium for Mu Bai, but wherever he looked, he could not find even formulas for elementary pills. After all, alchemists were by no means easy to come across.
"Come take a look! A freshly captured saber-toothed tiger..."
"Clothes make the person, and I help make you beautiful! Ladies, come look at our hairpins! Buy one, and you're sure to be pleased; buy one, and your man is sure to be happy..."
"Candied hawthorn skewers..."
Hai Ya wandered the streets without betraying any disappointment. He decided to search the imposing trading establishments.
The Dharma Lotus Pavilion was stately and antique in style. Backed by the Dharma Lotus Trading Company, it had the most comprehensive selection of cultivation manuals in the tribal market. Its shopkeeper had the bearing of an immortal, and even its floor attendants were all first-level cultivators.
Upon entering the Dharma Lotus Pavilion, everything he saw gleamed with jewels and treasures, displaying extraordinary quality.
"Senior, are you looking for cultivation methods? The Dharma Lotus Pavilion guarantees your satisfaction..."
Hai Ya remained silent. The attendant who greeted him could not discern his cultivation and treated him with considerable respect. With doors open in all four directions to welcome guests from every quarter, it never hurt to be respectful.
"Senior, most cultivation manuals on the first floor are ordinary ones. Though there may be pearls hidden beneath the dust, finding one takes great fortune. Shall I escort you to the second floor? Even experts from the Eastern Nether Great Tribe often visit it..."
Hai Ya cupped his hands with a smile and continued examining the rows of bookshelves on the first floor. A sweep of his divine sense gave him a general picture within moments. Just as the attendant had said, most were ordinary goods.
Suddenly, Hai Ya's heart stirred. The words "Thousand-Soul Pill" entered his Divine Sea.
"Could you let this old man see that jade slip?"
The attendant immediately fetched the jade slip for Hai Ya, his brows drawing together. He had not expected this old man to be an evil cultivator.
Hai Ya took the jade slip and immersed his divine sense in it to read. He discovered that it was no pill formula compendium at all, but a vicious cultivation art. Using a Thousand-Soul Pill as a catalyst, it extracted the souls of over a thousand living people and refined them into a Soul Banner, which could deploy a formation of thousands of Soul Soldiers.
Hai Ya shook his head and decisively returned it to its display drawer.
"Fellow cultivator, are you looking for pill formulas?"
Hai Ya looked up. It was the shopkeeper of the Dharma Lotus Pavilion. He had to admit that the shopkeeper had a keen eye for people, having discerned his visitor's needs at a glance.
"Might I ask what guidance you can offer, Shopkeeper?"
Hai Ya could tell that the shopkeeper of the Dharma Lotus Pavilion was a divine cultivator. Perhaps he really could provide a lead on pill formulas.
"Our pavilion has a pill formula compendium called the Compendium of Pills and Herbs. Would you care to join me upstairs for a chat, fellow cultivator?"
"Please!"
In a private chamber on the second floor, incense burned and tea brewed.
"Although parts of this compendium are missing, it still records quite a few formulas for pills with powerful effects. Three thousand second-level beast cores, of any attribute."
The shopkeeper named his price. Three thousand second-level beast cores was an enormous sum for a small tribe.
"Or fifty Soul-Returning Pills..."
"This old man has a body-refining method that is no inferior to the cultivation methods in your second-floor collection. It is worth over a thousand soul crystals. In addition, I have three thousand soul crystals, but nothing else..."
"Agreed. A trifling profit is hardly worth mentioning when it means befriending an alchemist!"
The elderly shopkeeper gave Hai Ya a meaningful look and expressed his hope that any pills refined in the future could be sold through the Dharma Lotus Pavilion.
Hai Ya immediately took out his Azure Python Force manual and handed over every soul crystal in his Soul Bag. Cupping his hands, he bowed. "This old man will remember your kindness, fellow cultivator!"
With that, Hai Ya tucked away the Compendium of Pills and Herbs and hurried downstairs.
"Report to the elder and send a divine cultivator at least at the peak of the second level to follow him. This man is presumably the Clan Patriarch of some small tribe fortunate enough to have produced an alchemist. We'll find a way to recruit that person into our Dharma Lotus Trading Company!"
Unless one's divine sense exceeded a divine cultivator's by more than twice, it was difficult to discern that cultivator's level. Thus, despite his keen eye, the shopkeeper of the Dharma Lotus Pavilion had not discerned Hai Ya's cultivation.
"Also, tell the Eastern Nether Great Tribe that I have information worth three thousand second-level beast cores..."
Having obtained the pill formulas, Hai Ya dared not linger and swiftly vanished into the crowd on the street. Before long, a burly, saber-wielding man appeared in the tribal market, swaggered out through the city gates, and strode north.
"A tough mark, but you won't escape the eyes of Hou Yaolin..."
The Dharma Lotus Trading Company had assumed that the Clan Patriarch of a small tribe could be no more than a second-level divine cultivator. Sending Hou Yaolin, who was at the peak of the second level, to follow him was already showing him considerable respect.
Upon entering the dense forest, the burly man Hai Ya had disguised himself as stopped swaggering. Instead, he put away his saber and hurried deeper into the woods.
Hou Yaolin followed him covertly the whole way, keeping him within the distant reaches of his mental power. He also transmitted messages through a jade slip to the elder of the trading company's branch, relaying information in real time. His precautions could be called flawless.
Yet the burly man merely kept running at full speed, seemingly unaware that someone was secretly following him.
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